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Lot Essay
"As in the restlessness of the night, the stars seem to indicate points of hope in the sky... . These points in infinity were the precursors of the new art; 'drawing in space'. The real problem to be solved is not only wanting to make a work that is harmonious and perfectly balanced - No! - But to achieve this result by the marriage of the material and space, by the union of real forms and imaginary forms, obtained or suggested by fixed points or perforations, and then, according to the natural law of love, to let them blend and to make them inseparable from one another, like body and spirit. To project and draw in space with the help of new devices, to use this space, and construct with it as if it were a newly acquired material - that is my endeavour." (Julio Gonzlez, 'Picasso Sculpteur et les Cathdrals', reproduced in J. Withers, Julio Gonzlez: Sculpture in Iron, New York 1978, p. 134).
Executed in silver, the present work is one of Gonzlez's seminal masterpieces. Because of the expense of the material, Gonzlez only ever made eight sculptures in silver, yet despite the restrictions of scale imposed by the expense, this exquisite sculpture is perhaps the ultimate expression of 'drawing in space'.
Only a craftsman as familiar and accomplished with metal-working and goldsmithery could create such a unique and elegant work where the scale and technique of the sculpture are ideally matched with the material.
In this perfect 'marriage' between form, space and material, Gonzlez displays all the skills of a master jeweller in the way he brings together the disparate elements of this precious metal figure into a truly magical and enchanting constellation of form.
Executed in silver, the present work is one of Gonzlez's seminal masterpieces. Because of the expense of the material, Gonzlez only ever made eight sculptures in silver, yet despite the restrictions of scale imposed by the expense, this exquisite sculpture is perhaps the ultimate expression of 'drawing in space'.
Only a craftsman as familiar and accomplished with metal-working and goldsmithery could create such a unique and elegant work where the scale and technique of the sculpture are ideally matched with the material.
In this perfect 'marriage' between form, space and material, Gonzlez displays all the skills of a master jeweller in the way he brings together the disparate elements of this precious metal figure into a truly magical and enchanting constellation of form.